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6.15.2016

the struggle is real: my battle with eating right

Growing up, I didn't worry about what I ate. When you're a string bean with no fat on you, you're ok doing that. As I got older, and the "maternal" aspects of my body kicked in, and metabolism slowed down, and then I had a baby, things were not so string beanie anymore. Because I never had to worry about the foods I put into my body, it became hard as I got older to be disciplined. Ever since I learned (and really studied) all about the negative effects of eating poorly, I have tried to be better. But it's hard. It's really really hard. It may not be challenging for other people, but it is for me. Everyone has their battles. I am so disciplined in many areas of my life, but eating healthy? Not so much. Tell me to train for a 10K and I'm totally on it. Give me a list of 10 tasks to do in a day, and I'll knock out 11. But tell me to give up my chips and queso and it's a no go. I tried the Whole 30 last year, and made it 10 days (I was also pregnant). I absolutely hate that quote about how exercise affects only 20% of your body weight and eating healthy affects 80%. I so wish it weren't true. Here are a few excuses I'm going to give for why it's hard for me to eat healthy:

I'm the youngest child. Growing up a tiny bit spoiled, I was given leniency when it came to having to eat the stuff that was good for me.

I work from home. It's harder to not eat stuff when you are at home all day with a whole pantry and fridge of food you own. When I worked at the office, I could only eat what I had brought that day, and if I got hungry, I would have to leave the office to get fast food. For this, I blame easy access.

I hate turning down free food. I've always been frugal, so if somebody offers me free food, I rarely turn it down. Maybe it's a cake at a birthday party, or a sugary sweet cocktail at an open-bar wedding, I'm gonna take part. Another part of this is that having to pay more for something that is organic, or something that takes worse than the cheaper food, is hard for me.

I hate wasting food. I get this from my mom, who hates wasting anything. Here's an example: my dear hubby Matt (ahem) will buy a pint of ice cream. He will not eat it, and it sits and sits in our fridge. Every time I open the freezer to get something, I see it starting back at me. I want that Cookies and Cream so bad, and I see it's about to expire. I can't just let a deliciously good ice cream go to waste! So I eat it. I just need to be ok with wasting the money on the ice cream, but it's hard to rewire your brain like that.

My partner is not on board. Or just not as extreme as me. He is better at the whole "everything in moderation" thing. Continuing the ice cream example, I then blame Matt for buying it in the first place, and I try to tell him to stop buying stuff that's bad for you. I tell him I have so much more self-control in Kroger than I do in my own house. At Kroger, I don't even go near the ice cream aisle. But at home, I like to snack a lot. I eat about seven meals a day, and it's hard to choose seven healthy meals a day.

I'm lazy. Not eating processed foods means you have to cook most of your meals. That takes time. A lot of times I wait until my hunger is too great and then I just have to eat something right then. It's too late to cook something, so I go for the packaged snacks.

I'm breastfeeding. Therefore, I am hungry all. the. time.

All this to say, I really shouldn't let all these excuses get in my way. The Bible says our body is our temple, and I know I need to treat it better than I do.I'm realizing this will probably always be a struggle for me (evidenced by here, here, here, here and here), but I'm getting more and more motivated. Next month I'm trying the 21 day detox. Wish me luck. :-)